The present invention relates to an amusement game and apparatus, and more specifically, to a pinball game having a playfield rotatable about a central axis of the game cabinet to any one of a plurality of playing positions, which rotation is accomplished by electrically controlled drive means.
As is well known, conventional pinball machines include a playing surface or playfield having a plurality of scoring bumpers and other scoring means disposed in a particular design on the surface. A ball is shot onto the playfield by a mechanical shooter where it contacts the scoring bumpers or other means, and points are registered on a visual display. The playfield is normally disposed at a slight angle to the horizontal within a cabinet so that gravitational forces cause the ball to more downwardly along the playfield toward a ball receiving hole or pocket which may be guarded on either side by manually actuable flippers. The players activate the flippers by pressing buttons mounted on the cabinet to strike the ball as it approaches the pocket to move it back to the elevated end of the playfield so that additional points may be scored.
A limitation inherent in many existing pinball machines described above, is that they may be used by only one player at a time. If players wish to compete against one another, each successive player must wait until the player before has completed his game. Some machines are provided with multiple scoring displays which record the scores of a number of players as each successive ball is played during a game. While such machines permit competition among players on each ball in a game, the problem of limited involvement of the other players while they are waiting their turn remains. In both types of existing machines, only one playing station is provided from which the ball may be shot and the flippers activated. Every time it is another player's turn to play, the participants must physically move around and change positions. If other players wish to watch play while awaiting their turn, they must stand around the playfield so that they may move into position to play when it is their turn.
It has been found that it is inconvenient and time consuming for players to constantly change positions in order to play. In addition, very often there is a tendency for players to lose interest in the play of others, as players sit down to relax or are otherwise blocked from viewing the playfield. These disadvantages are overcome by the present invention.